2006/08/01 by B. T. Draine, Khosrow Allaf-Akbari, Khosrow Allaf‐Akbari · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Asymmetry #Classical mechanics #Cosmic dust #Extinction (optical mineralogy) #Galaxy #Halo #Interstellar medium #Oblate spheroid #Optics #Physics #Polarization (electrochemistry) #Scattering #Starlight #Stars #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #Wavelength #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/508133
published as Astrophys.J.652:1318-1330,2006 · To appear in The Astrophysical Journal
arxiv created 2006/08/01 · openalex publication_date 2006/11/27 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We calculate the scattering of X-rays by interstellar dust for a dust model that reproduces the observed wavelength-dependent extinction and polarization of starlight. On interstellar sight lines that produce appreciable starlight polarization, we predict that the dust-scattered X-ray halo around point sources will have measurable azimuthal asymmetry due to scattering by partially aligned nonspherical grains. We calculate the expected halo asymmetry. X-ray halo asymmetry provides a new test of interstellar dust models.